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1952/59 centre seam Burst conversion.

Jumping@Shadows

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 11, 2003
Messages
1,330
Hi all, here’s my latest project, a centre seam early ‘52 I found in Chicago which had been crudely stripped/refinished some time before 1969 and played as such for a full 52 years by the last owner.

The previous humbucker conversion involved hogging out the P90 routes and sinking an ABR into the maple cap, as well as a misplaced stoptail, so I had to do a fair amount of plugging and tidying up as well as a neck reset to the correct 4* pitch.

Here’s how it landed:


Skipping ahead to all wood work complete, and a mist coat of sanding sealer to bring out the figure:


This will be a faded out green burst, which I’ll fade back from a cherry, using analine dyes:


First fading stage, with Bigsby:


Almost fully faded:

 

S. Weiger

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 25, 2002
Messages
1,744
Amazing! 👍 And wonderful tone. 👏👏

Only thing: The Bigsby/pickguard/pokerchip red marks seem too pronounced IMO.
Is it too difficult to make them look more real?
But it's a wonderful conversion anyways :)
 

Jumping@Shadows

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 11, 2003
Messages
1,330
Amazing! 👍 And wonderful tone. 👏👏

Only thing: The Bigsby/pickguard/pokerchip red marks seem too pronounced IMO.
Is it too difficult to make them look more real?
But it's a wonderful conversion anyways :)
Thanks man!
Yes the parts shadows fade a great deal, as all analine does, and is now much less pronounced
 

J.D.

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
10,030
I prefer the look with Bigsby installed to cover up those back tailpiece plugs. And it's a bit odd to see the Bigsby shadow and no bigsby mounting screw holes.
 

rialcnis

Active member
Joined
Jul 5, 2019
Messages
221
My '52 to '57 conversion, just didn't have that centered seam or I might have had burst done on the refinish. Gold hid the patch holes anyway.
Glad I never got it in my mind to put a Bigsby on it, during my years of monkeying around.
 

gibson-r8

Active member
Joined
Jul 15, 2004
Messages
574
I’m on a bit of a Bigsby kick right now, loved the look with the bigsby..
 
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